How to build Debian packages with Gitlab CI.

What are Debian packages?

Debian is a free operating system ( OS ) for your computer. An operating system is the set of basic programs and utilities that make your computer run. Debian uses the Linux kernel (the core of an OS) along with thousands of software packages (also called 'packages') that are each distributed in a separate file. The packages contain the program code that does all the work, and are connected to each other in what is called a package dependency hierarchy . Each package depends on some smaller package or packages, which in turn depend on even smaller packages, and so on.

What is Gitlab CI?

GitLab CI/CD helps you automatically build, test, deploy, and monitor your code. Run tests before every merge (Continuous Integration) to make sure the code is continuously strong. Set up your git repository to automatically trigger builds when you push commits (Continuous Delivery). Integrate behavior-driven development (BDD) frameworks like Cucumber or jBehave into your workflow to write more comprehensive automated acceptance tests that communicate functionality more effectively than plain unit tests.

Building Debian package with Gitlab CI via packagecloud

If you’re looking to build Debian package with Gitlab CI, you can use packagecloud to handle all of your package management and integrations with your CI/CD tools. Packagecloud works with all kinds of packages, not only Debian packages. As well, you can integrate with all kinds of CI/CD tools, not only Gitlab CI.